Detroit, Bruinsma bow out in NIT with loss to Arizona State

Detroit's Evan Bruinsma, left, and Doug Anderson, right, defend against Arizona State's Jordan Bachynski in Wednesday's NIT game. Bruinsma, who played in high school at Western Michigan Christian, had two points in an 83-68 loss.The Associated Press

MUSKEGON, MI. – The number of area college basketball players in the postseason decreased by one Wednesday night.

Evan Bruinsma and the University of Detroit fell to host Arizona State 83-68 in the opening round of the men’s National Invitational Tournament.

Bruinsma, who was a standout at Western Michigan Christian, played 19 minutes and had two points and two rebounds in the loss.

Detroit trailed 46-27 at halftime against ASU and finishes the season 20-13.

Chris Anderson, a graduate of Reeths-Puffer, is a first-year player at Louisiana Tech, which takes on Southern Mississippi in a second-round NIT game at 10 p.m. Monday.

Anderson, a 6-6 junior forward, had eight points, three steals and three rebounds in Tech’s 71-66 victory against Florida State in an opening-round game.

Tech (27-6) is up against a No. 1 seed in Southern Mississippi (26-9), which is coached by Donnie Tyndall. Tyndall grew up in Ravenna and is a graduate of Grand Rapids Northview.

In the Women’s NIT, Grand Haven’s Shar’Rae Davis will be in action Thursday night when Youngstown State (22-9) takes on Indiana State (18-12) in a first-round game.

Davis, a freshman guard, is the third-leading scorer for Youngstown State with a 9.6 average. She was selected to the Horizon League’s all-newcomer team.